Click and people came before you and paved
the way and laid the foundation for all this shit,
then you’re stepping on people’s toes. I hear
people say, “Man, I ain’t with that Screw music,
I’m doing some other stuff.” Not to discredit
them, but they’re separating themselves from
the heart of the city. The heart of the city is
what DJ Screw created. That’s not to say they
won’t survive, but that’s always the rumor in
Houston. They say people aren’t gonna like your
music unless it’s screwed. That’s not necessarily
true, but I just think that’s embedded in people’s minds. Here in Houston, if it’s done right,
it just sounds better Screwed. It sounds better
to us. But shit, Jay-Z is jammin’, whether he’s
Screwed or regular spee. I’ve met a bunch of
big-name producers who have moved to Houston, and it seems like they all have the same
agenda. They move to Houston with more of a
pop sound or a national sound, some production more appropriate for Puffy Daddy or Snoop.
Like what Pharrell tried to do with Slim Thug.
That shit don’t work. Even with me. When we
were working on the album, my buzz and the
media attention is humongous, so we were trying to find out what we could do to get radio
play. They’re like, “Let’s get Pharrell or Timbaland or Dr. Dre on a beat and somebody big on a
feature or a hook.” That’s what a lot of people
moving to Houston are trying to do – bring that
mainstream sound. But that’s not gonna work.
That didn’t work with Slim Thug. What worked
with Slim Thug was “Three Kings,” which had
him rapping on a Texas beat that Mr. Lee made.
He had Bun B and TI on there, and he was doing
Slim Thug. That’s what works. I don’t know if it
was Interscope or Geffen holding it up. I know
it wasn’t Slim Thug, cause he was tellin’ me
the whole time, “Man, I don’t know why they
won’t push this ‘Three Kings.’” If they would’ve
pushed “Three Kings” it would’ve been one of
the biggest singles of last year. But Slim still did
incredible his first week. Interscope thought
“Still Tippin’” wasn’t gonna work, but now everybody over there is kicking themselves in the
ass because they didn’t put it on Slim’s album.
“Still Tippin’” was originally Slim Thug’s song?
Yeah, of course. It’s his freestyle, his hook.
Did you have a problem with that becoming a
Mike Jones single? Even in Vibe magazine, they
made it sound like Mike Jones was doing you
and Slim a favor to put y’all on his song.
Naw. To be honest, I was just happy to have a
song that was as big a hit as “Still Tippin’.” T
Farris put me on the song. Originally they did
“Still Tippin’” to a different beat and it just
wasn’t it. That just wasn’t the one. The beat
for “Still Tippin’” that you hear today was the
last beat we had left for The Day Hell Broke
Loose Pt. 2 and nobody wanted to rap on it. The
way the beat was tracked, it was just a constant
loop and it was hard to write to. T just told me
to write to it as a freestyle. That’s what I did.
Salih Williams made both of those beats, and
“Back Then” and “Sittin’ Sideways” too. I was
just honored to be on the song. I don’t want to
discredit Mike by saying it’s Slim’s song, but it
is Slim’s song. it was originally on The Day Hell
Broke Loose Part 2.
When that song was originally made, it was
around the same time that major changes started happening at Swishahouse.
People always compare Houston to Atlanta.
They say, “Man, we need to get along, like they
do in Atlanta.” But shit, if you go to Atlanta, everybody don’t always get along. There’s a lot of

camaraderie; that’s true. You see a lot of people doing features with other artists, because
Atlanta has so many major acts: Monica, Usher,
Lil Jon, TI, Goodie Mob, Boyz N Da Hood, Young
Jeezy, Jermaine Dupri, Mariah Carey, Jagged
Edge, Ciara, Ludacris, the list goes on. When
Usher gets on a song with TI, I don’t think it’s
because he’s from Atlanta, it’s because he’s one
of the number one rappers in the country. When
I do a song with Slim Thug, I consider him one
of the prominent rappers in the country When I
do a song with Bun B, it’s because he’s a legend.
It’s not just because he’s from Houston, it’s because I respect his music and his hustle. There’s
only one or two people in Houston that don’t
get along with everybody.
With everything happening in Houston, do you
see the music industry migrating here to give it
the backbone that Atlanta has?
Realistically, it’s just a matter of time. Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, so
that shit is bound to happen anyway. The rap
scene in Houston has been so “local” for a long
time and everybody doubted the sound, but
look at the sales. Chicago was Mike Jones’ #1
market. Chicago bought more Mike Jones CDs
than Houston and Dallas did. It’s not a local
sound. The sound is everywhere. I was in the
airport today and I got stopped by some white
kids from Iowa! For real! They mama came up
to me and asked me to take pictures with her
kids. I threw a peace sign up and they was like,
“Aw, he chunkin’ the deuce.” Cuz they saw me
on MTV with Sway. When MTV came down here,
they brought so much attention to what’s going
on in Houston.
Shortly after the Swishahouse/Asylum deal, it
was announced that you’d gone over to Atlantic. How did that happen?
Well, Asylum is a branch off of Warner Bros. and
Atlantic. So when we go to Asylum, the ultimate
goal is to get upstreamed to either Atlantic or
Warner Bros. Mike Jones got upstreamed to
Warner Bros., so strategically, it was good for
me to go to Atlantic. If we were both on Warner
they would always push us together and have
us do everything together, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it takes away from our
individuality. Being on Atlantic, they can focus
on pushing me. We both support each other and
team up when we can for the big situations. T.I.
and Grand Hustle are also teamed up with Atlantic, so since I’m so close with them Atlantic
has taken notice of me for a long time.

when Watts used to let me pass out flyers for
him. Then he started putting me on mix CDs.
It was an honor just to be in the mix. I give
him 100% of the credit. T Farris put me on “Still
Tippin’,” which gave me a lot of publicity and
exposure. I give Swishahouse 100% of my credit,
next to God. Whatever Mike’s got going on, he’s
doing his thing. I support him and what he do.
I really have no idea what’s going on. I don’t
know why he don’t stay Swishahouse.
It’s good to hear you being positive about the
situation. But even during the short time you
weren’t with Swishahouse, your release with
Chamillionaire, Get Ya Mind Correct, was an
independent milestone for Houston in terms of
sales and style.
Thank you. A lot of that was just because we
teamed up with Madd Hatta and Cat and Paid in
Full. Madd Hatta is just a genius when it comes
to making business decisions, and Cat’s work
ethic is phenomenal. They didn’t’ force anything on us and let us make our own decisions
with the direction we wanted to go. We were
young and ready to work, just happy to be in
that position. We were full of energy and made
it into a positive situation. I was just happy to
be a part of it. I’ve been blessed because my
whole career, from start to finish, has been a lot
of good situations. I’m still climbing the ladder
though. It’s good to see the amount of success
I’ve had to day, and I’m not even at the top
yet. I’m still in the middle. But even if everything ends today, I can honestly look back and
say, “Damn, I had one hell of a career.” I’m just
blessed to be where I’m at.

Mike Jones doesn’t seem to be reppin’ Swishahouse anymore on TV or in interviews. Just an
observation. Have you noticed that?
Yeah, definitely. Shit, not just in interviews, but
he ain’t. I support Mike in what he do. I don’t
know if that’s something he’s got with Swishahouse, or if he’s just doing his own thing. He’s
always had the Ice Age company, so that aint’
nothing new.

Have you heard Chamillionaire’s new Man on
Fire disc and the shots he took at you? He’s
claiming that he ghostwrote stuff for you on Get
Ya Mind Correct.
I’ve heard about it, but I haven’t heard the CD
myself. Man, I ain’t worried about that shit. I
don’t concern myself with those type of things.
I focus on positive things, like putting down
$80,000 on this house to bring my interest rates
down. I’m not worried about negativity. I wish
him all the best. I hope he’s successful. I ain’t
got no hard feelings. I hope he sells a million
records his first week, cause if he does, everybody who buys his album is gonna go back and
buy Get Ya Mind Correct and Controversy Sells.
That’s more money in my pocket.

How much credit do you give Swishahouse in
your career?
Me? Shit, 100% of my credit. I would’t be shit
without Michael Watts, G. Dash, and T Farris.
They started all the shit with me back in 1996

You are one of the few rappers who seems to
stay out of all the beef.
There’s been situations where I’ve thought
about it, and I played chess. I think actions
speak louder than words. I don’t talk about it, I

Is it still Swishahouse though?
Oh, yeah, everything we do is Swishahouse.
We’re just using Atlantic and Asylum’s resources. The artists signed to Swishahouse are myself, Mike Jones, Archie Lee, Cooda Bang, Aqueleo, and R&B singer Crystal.